The ReturnAfter a Fashion
by SageK
Summary: Some familiar faces appear through the anomaly.
1. Chapter 1

Okay, well, this is a bit of a fix-it story. I haven't seen season three, but I've read about the new characters and Storyline, so this AU branches off somewhere before 3x03!

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"Maybe nothing's going to come through."

"Don't say things like that! You'll jinx us!"

"Oh, come on, it's been here for hours and nothing. Becker and his boys went in and poked around. Nothing."

"You had to go there, didn't you, Abby. Fine. Don't blame me when a T-Rex comes charging through."

Professor Nick Cutter heaved a sigh and turned away from his younger colleagues, allowing Abby Maitland and Connor Temple to continue bickering. Nearby, Captain Becker and his team of soldiers stood nearby, cautious and alert, their eyes and weapons trained on the reason they were standing in the middle of the woods on a damp Sunday afternoon.

The ARC's anomaly detector had begun wailing at about 3am that morning and the team had been on sight less than two hours later. The anomalies, which had the appearance of floating, glowing, moving pieces of shattered glass that hung in mid-air, allowed people, objects and animals to travel through time. Often times, extinct, dangerous animals found their way through theses doorway and it was Nick and his teams job to handle such occurrences. It was a dangerous job, they had lost friends and been injured on countless occasions, but it needed doing.

So they waited, hoping this anomaly would prove benign, but ready should that not be the case.

Nick looked around the area. Jenny Lewis, the ARC's public relations officer stood beyond the group of soldiers, her cell phone glued to her ear. She was probably speaking with James Lester, the teams administrator. Sarah Page and Danny Quinn, were still new enough to the team to remain on edge when confronted by a new anomaly, hovered together by a big tree, obviously listening to Jenny's conversation.

Taking a break from his conversation with Abby, Connor held up his compass and announced, "Looks like it's getting weaker."

There were murmured sounds of relief from all parties, as people shifted about, hoping this event would end without anything huge and fangy appearing through the portal.

It wasn't more than two minutes later that a figure came rolling through. All the special forces soldiers trained their weapons, but it soon became clear that it was a woman, not a creature. This did nothing to ease their worries, as Nick's psychotic wife Helen often wove her way through time using the anomalies.

The woman was not Helen, however. She was young and slim, with long brown hair caught up in a braid and blue eyes that flashed from her muddy face. Covered in muck though she was, her clothing was clearly modern, olive cargo pants, black tank top and boots, an ugly teal and cream plaid flannel sticking out of her canvas backpack. There was a Sig Sauer P226 strapped to her thigh and a Sub-machine gun clutched in her hands.

She didn't seem startled to see them there, just whirled around, aiming her own HK MP5 at the anomaly, and announcing, "There's a bloody great Carcharodontosaur right behind us!"

As she spoke, two more people came hurtling through the anomaly, landing hard on the ground and tumbling to a halt by the young woman, groaning. They too were covered from head to toe in grime and mud.

One of the men wore the kit typical of Special Forces assigned to the ARC. The other had muddy olive cargos and a maroon t-shirt, the Leeds logo barely visible through the dirt. The first man was fair, light brown or dark blond hair, 6" tall with a broad, muscular build, the man second darker, nearly black hair, and a leaner slightly taller frame.

They too scrambled into defensive positions, weapons aimed at the anomaly, which flickered shut behind them. The clearing was silent until the young woman spoke again. "Woohoo!" she exclaimed happily, jostling the dark haired man with her shoulder. "That one had to be about 12 meters long, maybe three tons."

"At least," the man laughed, causing many of the people in the field who had begun to approach to stop dead in their tracks, which in turn caused their colleagues to turn and stare at them. "Though it was gonna make a snack out of you mate."

The lighter man snorted and rose to his knees. "Not all of us are built for speed," he joked, giving the other man a shove into the woman, who let out an amused squeal.

It was Nick who first approached them, and breathed, "My God…How…."

Connor, pale and unsteady, staggered to Nicks side, clutching at Abby's arm, as the girl let out a choking noise, one hand pressed to her mouth. Jenny showed less shock as she mutely joined their group.

The three people an the ground turned to look at them, messy faces openly happy and guileless. Captain Tom Ryan was still in low crouch over the other two, trained eyes flicking over Nick and the others and obviously not finding them a threat. The young woman was vaguely familiar to Nick, perhaps from around the University, Kathy or Katie…something.

But it was the man reclining against the woman that really drew Nick's attention. As they stared, the light smile dropped off of the handsome face, replaced by a sad, hurt, troubled look that was too familiar. It was the look Stephen Hart had worn for much of the last few months of his life, before being torn apart by the creatures in Leek's menagerie when he sacrificed himself to save Nick and countless others.

But there Stephen was, a filthy mess, but very much alive. And in the company of at least one other person Nick knew to be dead.

He obviously noted their distress as well, focusing on Abby, who was, by this point, crying quietly. "What's wrong?" Stephen asked, rolling gracefully to his feet and looking from Abby to Connor to Nick and back. "Oh God, what's happened? Is everyone all right?"

Ryan pulled the woman to her feet and then looked to the group of soldiers. "Sit Rep!" he barked, causing the soldier to look startled and turn hopeful gazes at Nick.

_How am I going to explain this? _Cutter wondered, wishing for a change that someone else was the one with the answers.

TBC

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	2. Chapter 2

Stephen, Ryan and Kathy/Katie continued to stare at Nick for an explanation, growing more and more uneasy as the seconds passed. No one seemed to know what to say, until Abby broke away from Conner and launched herself at Stephen with a sob. She slammed into him, arms and legs wrapping around him like a vice as she buried her teary face against his neck.

The impact caused Stephen to stagger and before her even righted himself, Connor had joined the fray, wrapping the surprised man and sobbing woman in a bear hug. The younger man was obviously trying not to cry himself, blinking rapidly and sniffling.

Ryan and Kathy/Katie both wore surprised and highly amused expressions and stepped back from the unsteady mass of hugging people. Abby was still hanging off of Stephen, arms around his neck and legs around his middle which normally wouldn't have been a problem, but Connor's hug pinned his arms to his sides, limiting his balance.

"Uh, nice to see you two as well," Stephen murmured, managing to wiggle one arm out of Connor's grip to pat him awkwardly on the back.

Still pale and swallowing hard, Nick managed to say, "Stephen…how… Stephen…."

Hearing Nick, Connor pulled himself together and released the taller man, gently easing Abby off him as well. Stephen, obviously confused, watched them, then looked at Nick. "What's going on, Cutter?" he questioned, exchanging a glance with Ryan and Kathy/Katie.

Hearing Stephen speak directly to him broke Nick out of his stupor and he took several rapid steps towards his assistant. Then he froze. When Nick rushed at him, Stephen actually flinched back as if he expected Nick to hit him. The woman he had come back from the anomaly with stepped forward and slightly in front of him, a protective gesture that made Nick wince as did her glare.

Ryan was eyeing him with a rather wary expression himself, so Nick moved slowly as he began a second approach.

"It's all right, Katie," Stephen murmured, patting her shoulder as he moved around her. His eyes remained locked on Nick's until the older man was within arms length.

Then Nick couldn't hold back. In one smooth motion, he seized Stephen by the shoulders and pulled him into an almost crushing embrace. Reverently, Nick ran a hand over his friends back, then clutched at his shirt. "My God, you're really here," he breathed, then pulled back to look at Stephen's shocked face. "Look at you!"

"Right," Ryan said from the sidelines. "Have you all been drinking?"

"Or been drugged?" Katie added, picking at the drying mud on her cheek as she eyed the surrounding ARC team members. "Because you lot are acting very sketchy."

"What?" Connor asked, finally tearing his eyes off of Stephen to focus on the other two.

Abby simply managed, between sniffs, "No."

"Okay!" Stephen finally said, wriggling out of Nick's grip. Looking the other man directly in the eye, he said, "Tell me what's going on here, Cutter."

"You died." _Oh very nice_, Nick thought to himself. _Just blurt it out. This is why Jenny doesn't like for you to talk to the public. All the tact of a Gorgonopsid, you have. _"In Leek's menagerie. You locked yourself in to keep them from escaping. I saw…."

Stephen was shaking his head. "No," he said firmly. "Lester, Tom and his boys showed up with enough firepower to overthrow a small, South American nation. We killed the creatures."

"An alternate reality!" Connor gasped, bouncing on his toes with even more glee. "One where Captain Ryan lived and showed up in time so Stephen didn't have to lock himself in Leek's whacked out zoo, so he lived too. And… sorry I didn't get your name…."

"Kate Garrity," she said evenly.

"And Kate Garrity works at the ARC," Connor concluded with a grin. "Very cool stuff."

"A bit Stargate, really," Katie muttered. "But we travel through anomalies and deal with time lost, extinct species, so not that much of a stretch, I suppose."

Connor's surprised expression at least served to make the last of Abby's tears dry up. Before she could tease him, Ryan piped up in a rather disgruntled tone, "So, I'm dead here as well. Just brilliant."

"I hate to break up this little reunion, but we should all head back to the ARC. We can figure out what to do there," Jenny said suddenly, waving her phone in the air. "Lester is having a fit."

Everyone nodded in agreement, and as they moved off to the cars, Stephen fell in step with Ryan and Katie, a few feet away from the others. Before they got into the vehicles, Katie asked, "What's up with your hair, Claudia? A bit dark, don't you think?"

The look on Jenny's face made Nick laugh a real, loud laugh that had him nearly doubled over.

TBC

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	3. Chapter 3

Of course, upon their return to the ARC, Lester had insisted upon having Stephen, Ryan and Katie hustled off to medical quarantine. Nick, Abby and Connor had protested strenuously but the administrator had been adamant. They were to remain there until DNA tests confirmed their identities and they had checked thoroughly for any communicable diseases.

After being poked, prodded, swabbed and stabbed with dozens of needles, the trio were allowed to wash up and were given clean scrubs to wear. Outside the quarantine room, Nick, Connor, Abby and Jenny hovered around the large observation window. Sara, Danny and Captain Becker hung back a bit and were first to notice Lester's approach.

"Well, Hart and Ryan both have DNA on record, so the comparison shouldn't be that difficult. The girl, however, has never worked for us…," Lester began, but trailed off when Nick spoke up.

"She's dead," Nick said softly. "Five, six years ago."

"Of course he knows her," Lester sighed resignedly, as Abby asked, "You know her?"

"Not really," Cutter said, still staring into the room. Ryan was pacing the room, already on cranky due to the captivity. Stephen was calmly sitting on one of the narrow beds, one long leg dangling off the edge, the other bent up so that his foot rested on the mattress and his knee was tugged in against his chest. Katie crouched on the bed beside him in a manner reminiscent of any child in a National Geographic magazine. It was the sight of the two of them that caused Nick's memory to flare.

_On a sunny day in March 2001, Nick Cutter made his way across the campus of the Central Metropolitan University where he was a professor of Evolutionary Zoology. It was just this term that he was really getting back into the swing of things at the University. For nearly two years after his wife's sudden disappearance he had focused almost all of his energy on finding some trace of what had happened to her. Some called it an understandable obsession and he knew that under normal circumstances he could have lost his job or at least have been put on administrative leave._

_Instead, one of his wife's grad students, Stephen Hart, had attached himself to Cutter. The young man, a skilled zoologist and accomplished hunter/tracker, spent his weekends tramping through the woods with Nick. During the week, he often took Nick's lectures with underclassmen and made sure Cutter's departmental paperwork was kept current. Hart was also engaged in an ongoing war with the clutter that threatened to overtake Nick's office, but after tackling the worst of it (and locating the awful smell-- a carton of yogurt that was half way to fossilizing) he seemed to have come to grips with the chaos. At least, Nick hadn't noticed the younger man glaring at random piles of papers or books lately, which was a big change from the first, twitchy time he had ventured into Nick's inner sanctum._

_Personally, Nick had come to like Stephen. It was clear that the boy had idolized Helen and Nick needed someone to share his grief with. Stephen was always available for a talk or a drink, though he stoutly refused to let Nick find solace at the bottom of a bottle. Slowly, the younger man had drawn Nick back into the world off the functional and Cutter thanked whatever higher power there was for Stephen's intervention. As he became more aware of the world outside his own grief, Nick began to worry that the younger man's own social life had waned due to the time he spent looking after Cutter. But then Stephen had introduced him to one of his friends._

_Think of the devil, Nick thought jokingly as he spied Stephen and some of his fellow grad students lolling on the grass. Well, technically two of the other students were lolling as a third attempted to entice them into a football match. Stephen was sitting on a low stone wall, one foot kicking idly while the other rested atop the wall, bending the knee so he could rest his chin on the knee. Beside him, his friend Katie was crouched on the wall, holding out some sort of pamphlet for Stephen to see._

_Nick knew her name because she was friend Stephen had introduced Nick to. She too had been one of Helen's students but had another professor for a thesis advisor. Idly, Nick wondered if perhaps she was Stephen's girlfriend. The made a pretty pair, despite, or perhaps enhanced by, the lingering hint of academic that hovered around them like the scent of dust and old paper._

_Such was university life…._

"Professor?" Nick was startled out of his reverie by Connor's one word question and he shook his head slightly. It was their pose on the bed that jogged Nick's memory of that day on the quad and had dragged up what little he knew of the woman. "She was Stephen's friend. There was an expedition to Central America. There was a rebellion that left a lot of innocent dead. Stephen was quite….shattered, though he held his emotions in check even then."

"Lovely," Lester sighed, "What's one more person to resurrect?"

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In the quarantine room, Tom Ryan was feeling…antsy. The special forces soldier had been pacing the room for nearly an hour, while Hart and Garrity sat on a bed looking serene, but Ryan knew better. Stephen's dangling foot had not stopped jiggling with nerves and Katie kept twirling a lock of hair around her fingers.

Cutter and the others kept popping up to stare at them through the windows, happy grins or strained smiles plastered on their faces. It was Temple showing up with a big, bright grin and lots of happy waves that drove Tom over the edge.

"I feel like a monkey in a bloody zoo!" he fairly exploded, thumping his head against the nearest wall in extreme frustration.

After a moment, Stephen said, "Just tell us if you start feeling the urge to toss your feces around mate."

Katie let out a bark of laughter and Stephen chuckled under his breath as Tom turned his head enough to glare at them with one eye. Time to go in for the jugular. "Ha, ha, very funny Mr. GQ!"

His chuckles stopping, Stephen grumbled, "For the last time, I do not read GQ."

"Not why the boys call you that," Ryan teased, shifting to lean his shoulder against the wall.

"Well, it isn't due to your fashion sense," Katie said to Stephen with a grin. "I mean, you wear your clothes until they're ready to fall apart. The you patch them and wear them again."

"So do you!" Stephen laughed, giving her a slight push that tipped her onto her onto her bottom.

Ryan shook his head. "No, you don't dress like models."

Both pretty faces took on a mulish look. "That was a joke," Stephen said slowly. "Whatever was said was a joke."

"What was said?" Katie demanded. "And was there a lot of drink or drugs involved, because otherwise there will be a problem."

"After that 'Raptor tried to pull your ankle off," Ryan told Stephen, "You were pretty doped up and rambling. Chester did get a story out of you about a running contest you two had at Uni, seeing who got the most business cards from modeling agents…."

Stephen groaned and covered his face. Katie glared at him, then grinned at Tom. "Stephen won."

This statement made Ryan laugh and Stephen heave a beleaguered sigh.

TBC

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	4. Chapter 4

It was quite late by the time all the medical and DNA tests came back, but, as it had been a particularly eventful day, James Lester was still in his office to receive the results. As expected, the Stephen Hart and Tom Ryan in the quarantine room were perfect genetic matches to the samples in storage at the ARC. Confirming Ms. Garrity's identity had been less trouble than originally anticipated, as some forward thinking member of the medical division had run her information through the Oxford Genetic Atlas Project database and gotten a hit. Apparently, she had given a sample to Sykes's study nearly a decade earlier and there was enough left in their archives to run a comparison. They were who they said and each of them was in perfect health and almost sickeningly good physical condition.

There were a few physical differences of note, mostly in the form of scars and old, healed injuries. Captain Ryan's torso and shoulder were heavily scarred, the result of his encounter with the future predator on the Permian desert. Obviously though, his injuries had not been fatal, unlike those sustained by the Ryan originally of this timeline. Hart had most of the scars recorded in their old charts, including the nasty mark left by the Arthropleura. In addition, he bore a series of nasty scars on his right calf and ankle (Raptor, he had muttered when questioned by the staff) and a freshly scar on his left bicep that had been caused by a prickly barb only a few weeks earlier. Garrity's medical records weren't at their fingertips, but the long, jagged scaring that ran from under her left breast to the right hip had been sustained since the anomalies had opened.

Lester hadn't even finished reading the report when Cutter appeared in his office door, demanding, "Well? Can they get out of there now?"

Having known Cutter for more than a minutes, Lester knew the man had been lurking around the ARC, just waiting for medical to finish the evaluations. "Medical has cleared them, but there is still that minor issue of them being dead," he informed the professor. "We can't have them wandering about without any identification."

"I thought Jenny was working on that?" Nick said, crossing his arms and glancing toward the door, obviously itching to hurry down to quarantine but too interested in how the resurrection process was going to do so just yet.

With a sigh, Lester replied, "She is, but, like most sane people who are not me, she went home to get some sleep hours ago. The newly non-dead will still be here in the morning."

"Wouldn't the right word be undead?"

"Are our lives _not_ already enough like one of Mr. Temple's television programs without you adopting their vocabulary?"

"Point taken."

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Despite Lester's common sense argument about the fact that Stephen, Tom and Katie couldn't leave the ARC until the were officially alive again, Nick made his way down to quarantine. Through the big window, he could see that the lights had been dimmed slightly and the trio seemed to have decided to get some sleep. Glancing at him watch, Cuter was startled to find that it was 3:18 in the morning.

Whoever had last been in the observation area had left the intercom on and Nick listened to the noises in the quarantine room with a smile.

Ryan was asleep on the narrow bed furthest to the right, snoring softly. The soldier lay flat on his back with his arms draped across his torso as though he were still cradling a weapon. On the leftmost bed, Katie was curled up on her side, one little pink polished foot peeking out from under the blankets. She was murmuring softly, in either gibberish or a foreign language Nick was unfamiliar with. Stephen was sprawled on his stomach, one arm dangling off the edge of the central bed. He was making little snuffling noises that Nick remembered from many expeditions where they had shared tents.

Seeing them deep in sleep, knowing that they would be able to move more freely about the ARC in the morning, Nick felt a wave of exhaustion roll over him. Bonelessly, he sank onto the small couch Connor and Abby had dragged into the room earlier, fully intending to spend the night. At 10pm, Nick had sent the two of them home with a promise to call if anything came up. With a tired groan, he pulled out his cell phone and stared at it for a moment, then let it fall to the couch beside him. He'd let them sleep and just call at a more humane hour.

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Nick awoke to the sounds of Connor and Abby bursting into the quarantine room bearing gifts of food, clothes and, most importantly, coffee. With a grunt, he heaved himself off of the couch and attempted to work the kinks out of his back. Glaring at the offending piece of furniture, he decided it wasn't built for sleeping. He was _not_ getting old, it was the couch's fault.

Entering the room, Nick found Connor handing out large cups of steaming hot coffee while Abby set out Styrofoam containers on the room's small table.

"Here ya go mate," Connor said happily, handing Stephen a cup. "Black with about a pound of sugar."

Less than half awake, Stephen made a noise of thanks and set about inhaling the beverage. He must not have slept well, Nick thought, knowing the younger man was generally one of those annoyingly alert morning people. At the moment, however, with his eyes were barely open and sporting a truly impressive example of bed head, it was obvious the tracker was not yet fully awake.

"Black as night, sweet as sin," Katie teased lightly, accepting her own cup. There were creases on her cheek from where the thin sheets had rumpled up under her face.

Connor smiled, handed over Ryan's drink and said, "Wasn't sure how you two took it, so we brought sugars and cream."

"This is good," Ryan told him sipping his with a nod. The soldier looked fresh and alert, like he had been up for some time already.

"Why mess with perfection?" Katie agreed, then wandered over to see what Abby was doing.

"Morning," Nick greeted everyone, smiling as he watched the group.

"Why didn't you call us!"

The demand came from Abby, who looked up from setting the table to level an admonishing glare in his direction. Connor turned a questioning gaze on him as well, but didn't seem as angry as his flat mate.

"What would the point have been to call you in the middle of the night?" Stephen piped up. "We can't leave the ARC yet, and anyway we were asleep. As, I hope, you were."

"Is that Black Pudding?" Ryan had been staying out of Abby's line of fire and eyeing the breakfast spread, but the sight of what was apparently a favored dish made him approach the table and take a seat. He smiled broadly as the blond herpetologist pushed one of the large containers his way. "Full Breakfast. Good choice. Thanks."

With that, Ryan tucked into his meal with gusto. Katie plopped into the seat beside him and peered at her own breakfast. After taking another sip of coffee, the young woman began piling bacon, eggs, sausage, black pudding, potato cakes, fried tomatoes and mushrooms onto her toast to make a large sandwich.

Abby wasn't deterred, and turned to Stephen. "We wanted to know as soon as medical cleared you! Cutter promised he'd call when he made us go home! Then we got a call from Jenny this morning while we were picking up breakfast and she told me the all clear came in during the night."

"Big mistake, that," Connor said, backing up Abby's assertion that they should have been called immediately.

"I just thought we could all do with some sleep," Cutter said attempting to appease the angry woman. "So we could all start then new day fresh."

Stephen was just beginning to drift toward the table, coffee cradled against his chest like a holy relic. He was very aware that while Nick, Abby and Connor seemed pleased to see and meet Tom and Katie respectively, they were all very focused on him. "The sleep was a good idea," Stephen assured them with a shrug. "We got caught in the Middle Cretaceous era a few weeks ago, so rest has been a bit sparing."

As he took another step toward the table, Katie kicked a chair out in his direction. "Sit," she commanded, then proceeded to cram nearly half of her sandwich into her mouth.

Raising his brows at her and grinning, Stephen took a seat and said, "Very attractive Katie. So ladylike."

Her verbal response was muffled by the mass of food in her mouth, but Connor assured her, "I think we all got that even without the hand gesture."

Taking in the seating situation, Nick proceeded to drag one of the beds over to the table, allowing Abby, Connor and himself to join the others in having morning meal. Setting his meal on his knees, as the bed wasn't the right height to comfortably eat off of the table, Nick enjoyed the sights and sounds of those around him. Connor and Abby were having a little scuffle over some bacon which had mysteriously migrated from Abby's plate to Connor's. Ryan and Katie were still intent on their food, not really speaking but occasionally one would gesture toward a condiment and make an inarticulate noise that the other seemed to understand. It was really quite a testament to teamwork. After a few tentative bites, Stephen had applied himself to his own meal in a manner reminiscent of a combine harvester. Nick knew the younger man was a picky eater, preferring to eat small amounts throughout the day. He claimed it was better for digestion and metabolism, but, if truly hungry, or primed with a significant amount of a particular illicit substance, he could really put the food away.

After breakfast was finished, Abby again hopped up and plopped another series of bags onto one of the beds. "I wasn't sure about your sizes," she said with a smile, "but I figured you could use a change of clothes that isn't scrubs."

Connor held up a finger to get Stephen and Ryan's attention. "Just to clarify a point, I had nothing to do with the jeans. I told her they looked too small."

"Oh they're fine," Abby grumbled, but a faint blush colored her cheeks belying the words.

"Nothing wrong with wanting to ogle the goodies," Katie joked with Abby, rising from her seat and looking down at the scrubs she wore. The too big top was liberally streaked with ketchup and the pants pulled uncomfortably across her hips and butt, so a change of clothes was in order. "I'm sure anything will be better than these!"

Abby shared a sympathetic smile with the other woman and handed her a bag from TopShop. Without looking, Katie trotted over to the privacy partition and pulled it closed to change.

Interest peaked, Stephen and Tom wandered over to peek into their own bags. "None of my old stuff around still?" Stephen queried with a pout. "Because if the me from this world was anything like _me _me then his clothes were just getting to the worn in, comfortable phase."

"No," Abby said quickly, pushing his bag into his arms. "We donated a lot of things."

"A lot…."

"You're not getting those orange pants back! They're big enough for two of you!"

Stephen was startled by he vehemence and looked to Connor and Nick. "They were really hideous," Connor informed him with a shrug and Nick nodded his agreement.

Tossing up his hands in exasperation, Stephen muttered, "Who cares what they look like. They were comfortable and had lots of pockets for anything I needed to carry!"

Ryan was digging through his own bag, obviously not offended by the contents, and his shoulders were shaking as he tried to stifle his laughter at Stephen's obvious disgruntlement. He saw nothing too wrong with the black blazer and white polo, Abby had chosen for him. True, the jeans did look a bit smaller than he would normally wear, but nothing obscene. The black Chuck Taylor's weren't really his style and the boxer briefs with the little dinosaurs printed on them were defiantly not his preferred brand.

The pants in Stephen's hands were probably made of half the material as his sorely missed cargos, but would no doubt fit his lean frame just fine. He too had Chuck Taylor's and dino boxer briefs, but instead of a polo and blazer he had a t-shirt and sweater, both in a cerulian blue. He was staring at the t-shirt with a funny expression on his face.

Before anyone could ask him what he found so enthralling about a piece of cotton, Katie popped back out from behind the privacy wall. She was clad in blue jeans, lilac Chuck Taylor's a white button up blouse and a lilac cardigan. For a moment Tom wondered if she too had dinosaurs on her undies, but pushed the though out of his mind as Stephen shook himself out of his stupor and held up the T-shirt.

"Whose idea was it to get me a shirt that says 'Mr. Lazarus' on it!"

TBC

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	5. Chapter 5

Though medical had cleared Stephen, Tom and Katie, the trio was restricted to the ARC until Jenny finished figuring out how to resurrect them. Nick had popped into her office earlier to inquire about progress on that front, but had quickly backed out the door when the PR wizard nailed him with a glare that could melt titanium. Apparently, her task was not an easy one.

Even Lester was in a better mood than she was. He informed Nick that the plan was to say Stephen had been in a sort of witness protection program and his death had been faked to provide him a measure of security. Ryan was a bit easier, as they were going with a covert mission that had required more than the usual level of secrecy.

Katie, again, proved problematic. Her body had never been recovered, just a large portion of blood and her father refused to believe his only daughter was dead. Thus, she had never actually been declared dead. The current plan was to say she had suffered traumatic memory loss after the rebel attack and had been living with natives in the rainforest since then, until another British expedition came across her and jogged her memory. They'd do some research, assure that the her of this world had similar enough life experiences to what she had lived, then Katie would be reunited with her family.

After speaking with Lester, Nick made his way out to where Connor was showing Stephen and the others the upgrades he had been making to the Anomaly Detection Device. The young man was speaking rapidly and they looked interested, if confused, in what he was saying. Abby had her arm looped through Stephen's, as if afraid he was going to disappear at any moment. Captain Becker and Danny were trading measuring looks with Captain Ryan, who seemed torn between attempting to stare them down, listening to Connor and stealing bits chocolate from the large bar Katie had found somewhere and was currently making a mess of herself with. The girl didn't seem to be able to get food into her mouth without wearing it as well.

Leaning closer to the ADD, Stephen said, "Well, it's clear you lot are a good bit ahead of us in the tech department."

"Not to mention this place," Ryan said. "The ARC we left was still half built. For the most part we were still working out of the Home Office."

"And the University," Katie added, giving the tech set up a long look. "Wonder if we've all dealt with the same anomalies?"

Connor looked up, obviously intrigued by that question. "Oh, good question! We should figure out what's different in out timelines. You know, besides the whole you three being alive thing…and you had Claudia, not Jenny, right?"

"Yeah," Stephen said, glancing in the general direction of Jenny's office. "A bit weird, that."

With the hand not gripping Stephen, Abby reached out and tapped a monitor, bringing up some data. "Okay, let's see…I'm assuming you three know Rex. Have you encountered…"

"Start with the big differences," Cutter said, approaching the group. "Captain Ryan, the trip to the Permian to send the Future Predators back to the future, that was where I saw you die. The female creature caught up with us and attacked, killing the other soldiers and mortally wounding you, Ryan. Then a gorgonopsid attacked the creature and takes off after it makes a kill."

"You worked out that the skeleton we found the first time we visited the Permian was your own, then died. Helen said that none of the creature's young had survived, and we buried the dead then return through the anomaly. That was when she so kindly revealed the affair and then there was the whole Claudia/Jenny thing…what was different for you three?"

"Well, Stephen and Katie were with us in the Permian, for a start," Ryan said ruefully, giving the woman a playful push. "And as usual, someone was in possession of some distinctly non-regulation firepower."

Cutter eyed the woman, then looked at Stephen, "I would have thought you to be the gun aficionado out of the pair of you."

Ryan snorted. "They enable each other. Anyhow, one of my men was taken down before chocolate-face here hauled out a .50 Caliber Sniper Rifle, which, honestly, she never should have had in her possession, but now we use with great efficacy in such situations. We neutralized the little critters when we realized they weren't going to lead us to any anomaly, then returned to our time."

"There was no Claudia/Jenny thing then, but the…revelation was the same," Stephen added quietly, not looking at Nick, who saw how Katie moved in close to her friend, silently offering support. The young woman tossed Nick such a glare that he wondered how badly his counterpart had reacted to news of the affair. It wasn't the first time he'd had such a thought, but he dreaded what might be revealed if he actually asked.

"All right, so the fact that Ryan lived is a big difference. Also, there is no Katie in our history to have been around with a scary big gun," Connor said, then looked at her. "When did you join the project?"

She shrugged. "Been here since day one. Stephen rang me about the strange animal sighting by the Forest of Dean and asked me to come along."

"And you said I died in Leek's cage room," Stephen said, raising his eyes to meet Nick's. "I hit you about a half second before the cavalry arrived. Never had to go in. We just razed the room…OW!"

Katie had reached up an pinched his earlobe. Hard. "Just a reminder not to go haring off on your own again."

Scowling, Stephen pulled a napkin out of his pocket and swiped the chocolate from his ear. "I've explained that a hundred times," he groused, grabbing her wrists and vigorously scrubbing the remnants of the sweet from hands.

Ryan was eyeing them indulgently and said, "Still, why on Earth did you believe _that woman? _And taking off without us to exact vengeance…not your finest hour."

"You knew she was outraged that you were avoiding her attempts to influence you away from N…us," Katie said grumpily as Stephen looked her over then tilted her chin to the side and licked the corner of the napkin in his hand. "Are you seriously trying to spit clean me!!"

"No," he said quickly, crumpling the napkin in his fist. "Look, I know it was bad judgment, but…."

"But nothing," Ryan interrupted, giving the younger man a hearty slap on the back. "From now on just accept the fact that, if the she-beast manages to tack you down again, anything Helen Cutter tells you is a lie meant to manipulate you into doing something that benefits her. End of lesson."

"And if you forget this lesson we reserve the right to hide snakes in places you will find them when you least expect to, or where they will freak you out the most," Katie added then grinned. "Remember the snake in the toilet in Brazil?"

The scowl Stephen sent her was good natured. "Why must you continue to torture me about that?"

Abby giggled and Connor let out a little laugh. Nick smiled and said, "Well, if you reacted as you did to the one in your sleeping bag during our trek in Ecuador, there is plenty of fodder for teasing."

It was said gently and Stephen actually grinned when he met Nick's eyes. "I seem to recall someone else reacting unhappily as well," he replied in a tone that clearly said he was attempting to hold on to his dignity, but knew it wasn't going to happen.

Cutter snorted. "Aye, but I wasn't the one hitting glass shattering octaves."

Again there was a round of laughter and Abby shook her head. "Men," she sighed. "Gorgonopsid--No worries. Little snake--The world is ending."

"I think it's the slithering," Connor said. "Snakes are sneaky. Come up behind you and BAM! Bite you. Most of the creatures we chase aren't that big on stealth."

They pondered that for a moment, before Danny broke in to the conversation, asking, "So who wants what takeaway for lunch?"

TBC

Reviews Please! Sorry for the late update. I had a bad encounter with boiling water and am contending with a badly burnt left arm and hand, so my typing is quite slow. I'm still writing though!


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